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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Superman #132, October 1959, was published around August 6, 1959. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of 10¢. Mort Weisinger was the editor, and the cover was drawn by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye.

This issue contained a single full length story, a rarity for the silver age of Superman stories, titled Superman's Other Life. It was written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye, and was reprinted in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I and Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told vol. II. The story was divided into three chapters:

Part I: Krypton Lives On!
Part II: Futuro, Super-Hero Of Krypton!
Part III: Superman Of Two Worlds!

Krypton Lives On began as Batman and Robin visited Superman in his Fortress of Solitude to express their gratitude for saving them from a recent crime trap in Gotham City. Their gift was to program the Man of Steel's Super Univac computer to show on a video screen what Superman's life might have been like if Krypton hadn't exploded.

The story began as Jor-El launched his infant son Kal-El in the small rocket. History in this story changed when Professor Zin-Da used his anti-atomic ray to defuse the chain reaction in Krypton's core. Jor-El launched a guided missile to steer Kal-El's rocket back to Krypton, and brought back the satellite which contained his son's pet dog, Krypto.

Various scenes showed Kal-El growing up, beginning school and joining the Krypton Youth Scouts. For one of his good deeds he used a telescope to observe an Earth couple in an out of control car, headed for a lake. Quick thinking Kal-El used a heat ray to evaporate the water, so that the vehicle came to a stop on dry land. It turned out that the couple was the Kents, who would later adopt a young girl.

Jor-El and Lara eventually gave Kal-El a younger brother, Zal-El.

Krypton began their own space program, and young Kal-El wanted to join Krypton's Space Patrol. Professor Xan-Du operated the Skill Machine, which used grades, mental capability and other data to determine what job the subject would have. The result was final. Kal-El was relieved to find that he would join the Space Patrol, but only as a dispatcher.

To ease Ka;-El's disappointment, Zan-Du demonstrated his latest invention, a Static Ray. It was anything but, as it transformed test Kryptonian rabbits to a variety of forms. After Kal-El left, Krypto entered the lab.Startled by a transformed rabbit, Krypto exposed both he and Xan-Du to the Static Ray, miraculously to no effect. Xan-Du sent Krypto home and dressed for that evening's Masquerade Ball.

Kal-El also attended, dressed in the fashion typical of Earth men, a business suit. Wearing a pair of glasses he looked exactly like Clark Kent. The Ball was held at the floating Sky Palace, and part I ended as the anti-gravity failed, and the Palace began to fall.

Part II: Futuro, Super-Hero Of Krypton began as a woman asked Professor Zan-Du to open the door to let the attendees escape. He surprised everyone, most of all himself, when he ripped the door off the hinges. That was how he learned that the Static Ray had given him super powers. He flew under the Sky Palace and flew it safely to the ground.

Before anyone could learn his identity, Xan-Du flew away. He decided to operate as the superhero Futuro and keep his identity secret.

Kal-El learned that Krypto had super powers when his pet dragged the equipment Kal-El had chained him to in Jor-El's lab, in an attempt to keep Krypto from chasing after him. When they saw Futuro flying over them, Kal-El had Krypto follow him in the air, and they flew to Xan-Du's lab where they learned his secret identity. So Kal-El became Futuro's version of Jimmy Olsen, and vowed to keep his identity secret.

The leaders of Krypton had a full size duplicate of the planet constructed as a decoy for any space invaders. The real planet would be shrouded by mist to hide it from any enemies. A construction worker was trapped inside the finished decoy, and dispatcher trainee Kal-El was unable to find any Spacemen available for the rescue. Futuro didn't respond when Kal-El alerted him with his signal watch, because he was rescuing some miners. After borrowing a Metal Eater, a hippo like creature, from a zoo, Kal-El flew to the decoy planet and had the Metal Eater chew a hole through which he could rescue the trapped worker. But Kal-El discovered that he was stranded when he discovered the Metal Eater making a second course of his rocket. Futuro rescued everyone and they returned to Krypton.

Futuro re-examined the Talent Machine with his x-ray vision and discovered that a loose wire was making the machine give inaccurate job decisions. Kal-El was retested, and was confirmed as a Spaceman. He would graduate the Academy and don the Spaceman uniform, which would be a duplicate of what humans would call Superman's uniform.

Part II would end when Jor-El's rocket, with the rest of his family on board, crashed on a magnetic asteroid which had drawn the rocket off course.

Part III: The Superman Of Two Worlds began as Spaceman Kal-El flew his rocket to rescue his family. Unfortunately, the crash caused a chain reaction in the asteroid, which exploded before anyone could be rescued. Futuro carved a monument to Jor-El and his family on the largest remnant left of the asteroid. So even in this alternate timeline, Kal-El would be orphaned.

Spaceman Kal-El would rescue an alien rocket which happened to come from Earth. Futuro discovered a stowaway aboard the Earth rocket, reporter Lois Lane, still risking her life for the exclusive scoop. Kal-El showed her around Krypton, including the Museum of weapons, which held all of the planet's weapons now that war was obsolete on Krypton.On board a Subsurfacer, a type of submarine that would burrow under enemy cities, Lois accidentally turned on the ship when she couldn't read the Kryptonian warning signs that it was powered by cosmic rays. It burrowed into the Electric Caverns, but Futuro rescued them before they could be struck by one of the underground lightning bolts.

Lois fell in love with Futuro, and he decided to follow his love to er home planet. Before he left, Futuro exposed Kal-El to the final charge in his Static Ray, giving him super powers. Kal-El decided to take the superhero name of Superman!

Back at the Fortress of Solitude, the Man of Steel appeared to have mixed emotions at the possible other life where he still wound up being Superman.

While this story was not labeled as such, this was like a classic "imaginary story." It had tragedy and triumph, most of the elements of Superman lore spun in a new direction. I did have a few very minor problems with the story. I couldn't help but wonder why Jor-El didn't bring Kal-El's rocket back by remote control. It would be much harder to send a missile at the same speed and trajectory to steer the rocket instead of just crashing into it.

Also, I had to wonder how the control board would work, when Lara ordered food from the Community Kitchen with the touch of a button. A complex web of underground pipes would have to be built to transport the dishes to the individual homes. Ah, but silver age superhero stories have fun creating overly complex solutions. If there was a Kryptonian version of the ASPCA, Professor Xan-Du would be in big trouble over his use of Kryptonian rabbits in his experiments.

Other than those minor points, I enjoyed this story very much. It showed that no matter what planet he was on, Kal-El would always become a hero, and I give it 5 Superman Capes out of 5.

Action Comics #257, October 1959, was published around August 27, 1959, the very day my parents got married. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye.

The Reporter Of Steel was written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. It was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

Lex Luthor, in his solitary confinement cell in prison, dismantled a radio and built a super ray projector and an image transmitter. A speck of the element xium he smuggled into his cell in one of the fillings of his teeth powered the super ray device.

Luthor used the image projector to beam his image outside the walls of his cell, and allowed him to see beyond the prison walls. He wanted to test the super ray device on someone before using it on himself, to be safe. Luthor found Clark and Lois, and he exposed Clark to the super ray device.

Clark noticed that a fly which had also been exposed gained super powers and was able to crash through a spider web. Luthor informed Clark that if he had no side effects from having super powers, then Lex would use the device on himself. Clark "tested" his powers by lifting a car. Luthor's image faded, and the projector device shorted out.

When Clark and Lois visited Luthor in his cell, he had dismantled his projection device and reassemble the still working radio. Clark took advantage of not having to keep his powers secret by typing a report at super speed, and spinning the rollers on the press so that the next edition could get printed.

Clark Kent put on an exhibition of his super powers, but charged the admission price of a dime to get rich off of his new abilities. He used his x-ray vision to activate one of his Superman robots from his secret closet in his apartment, so that Superman would still be seen. The robot subbed for Clark in exploring the moon for some scientists.

To add to his fortune, Clark searched for sunken treasure, mines, and the pearls of a million oysters. He even squeezed coal to diamonds until Perry reminded him that he would cause a crash on the diamond market. Clark stopped a robbery at the Superman Museum, and made sure he got the reward money for capturing the criminals. He even won a contest by defeating the heavyweight boxing champion. When Clark rescued the passengers of a dirigible which was about to fly into a skyscraper, Clark would only do it after the people gave him their cash and jewels.

When Lois questioned by Lois about his greed, Clark accused her of being a gold digger, only interested in him instead of Superman because of his fortune. Lois slapped him, but her hand didn't hurt as much as her heart.

Finally, Clark announced that he was donating his entire fortune to charity. That drove Luthor to destroy his super ray device, for fear that he would be compelled to give away his future ill gotten booty as a side effect of his invention. Clark's plan had worked to perfection. When the Superman robot returned from the Moon, Clark had it search the oceans for buried treasure in order to reimburse the blimp passengers and ease his conscience. A very relieved Metropolis was glad Superman was back, and that Clark Kent no longer had super powers.

This story had one of the most interesting challenges that Luthor ever devised against Superman. It was interesting to see Clark not having to hide his super powers. What was disturbing was his turn to greed, which obviously was a front, but he seemed to take it too far when he basically extorted the dirigible passengers for their lives.

When Clark used his x-ray vision to activate his Superman robot long distance, I couldn't help but wonder if he could use his x-ray vision to change the channel on his TV, since TV remote controls had been sold since around 1950.

This story was unusual in that Clark almost became a second villain in this story. It was certainly a change for him. I could see him faking greed, but not basically robbing the passengers. If not for the extreme Clark went to in this regard I would rate this story a 4, but I have to drop it to 3 Superman Capes out of 5 for that reason.

Congo Bill starred in the second, 6 page story of the issue, The Man Ape Skin Diver, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney. In his 9th appearance as Congorilla, Congo Bill salvaged a sunken experimental tank that was powered by a nuclear engine.

Supergirl starred in the 8 page final story of the issue, The Three Magic Wishes, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney. This story was reprinted in Supergirl Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Supergirl vol. I.

Linda Lee was reading the fairy tale Cinderella to some of the younger orphans, when Tommy Baxter barged in and interrupted Linda. He said he didn't believe fairy tales.

Later, she changed into Supergirl and decided to teach Tommy a lesson. After improvising a fairy godmother costume, she appeared before the orphans. Tommy agreed to believe in fairy tales if she could grant three wishes.

His first was to make plain looking Peggy look pretty. Supergirl took a photo of Peggy's Mother, hung it outside from a tree limb, and put a magnifying lens on a window. She had Peggy say the magic words and look out the window, and she saw her pretty "reflection."

Tommy's second wish was to change Johnny's rabbit into a horse. Supergirl flashed her magic wand (actually a sparkler) and at super speed lassoed a horse from a few miles away. Using her super breath, she returned the horse to his ranch, to land softly in a pile of hay. A carrot lured the rabbit back in its cage.

His third wish was to make a string that couldn't be broken. Supergirl used her fingernail to clip a few strands of her hair and combine them into one thin string. She tied Tommy with it, and he couldn't break it. He said he was only kidding when he said he didn't believe in fairy tales, but the Fairy Godmother Supergirl taught him a lesson for lying.

At super speed she placed a bit of yeast dough on his nose and heated it slightly with her x-ray vision, making it seem like Tommy's nose was growing like Pinocchio's. She hypnotized the children and they returned to the orphanage in a trance. She removed the fake nose and changed back into Linda Lee.

When the children awoke, it all seemed to be a dream, especially to a very relieved Tommy. Linda was satisfied that he had learned his lesson when he declined to listen to her read the story of Pinocchio to the younger orphans.

I thought Tommy was annoying, and didn't mind Linda teaching him to mind his own business, but I thought she went too far by humiliating him with the fake growing nose. Lassoing the horse at super speed would have killed the animal, if not severely wounding it, but other than that, it was a simple story about teaching a troublesome kid a lesson. I would have given this a 4, for the innocent charm of the tale, but the nose bit pushed it down to 3 Superman Capes out of 5.

Since this week was my 51st birthday, I also looked at the Superman titles which were published in September 1961. There were 5 such titles that month, carrying the November 1961 cover date: World's Finest Comics #121, Superman #149, Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #29, Action Comics #282 and Adventure Comics #290.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #14, August 1956, was published around June 7, 1956. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. Mort Weisinger was the editor, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and pencilled by Ray Burnley. They were the art team for all three stories. Mike's Amazing World Of DC Comics lists Otto Binder as the writer of the first and third stories in this issue, and leaves the author of the second story unknown. The Grand Comic Book Databaselists Otto Binder as the writer of the second story also. DC's slogan contest for 5,000 prizes was promoted on the cover, as well as most of their other titles this month.

The first story of the issue was 8 pages long, with the very non-PC title The Feats Of Chief Super-Duper. It began with Clark and Jimmy doing research at the Metropolis Indian Museum, for a Sunday feature on a legendary Lost Tribe. They were struck by the resemblance to Jimmy on one of the totem poles, created by the Ravensfoot tribe about Chief Super-Duper.

Later, Superman took Jimmy through the time barrier to the Old West of the 1800's. Superman flew through some salt flats, creating enough turbulence to throw dust into the air and seed the clouds to bring rain to a drought stricken area.

Superman dropped Jimmy off near the Ravensfoot Tribe's village, as he left to search for the Lost Tribe. Jimmy entered the village as a bolt of lightning struck behind him, fulfilling a tribal prophesy of the return of a Great Hero.

Jimmy introduced himself as Chief Super-Duper and attempted to play the role of a hero for the tribe.

When the Black Tomahawk Tribe approached, who had been on the warpath against the Ravensfoot Tribe
in the past. Jimmy quickly made a pair of stilts and approached the Black Tomahawks as the Ravensfoot Giant Warrior. He fell off the stilts when they stuck in the sand. The Black Tomahawks were insulted, because they had planned to trade with the Ravensfoot tribe, and decided to take their trade elsewhere.

Jimmy's second attempt at doing a super deed for the Ravensfoot tribe was to build a pair of giant tom-toms so that the tribe could use them to communicate long range. Unfortunately, the tom-toms were so loud that it made the tribe's babies cry and caused a herd of bison to stampede through the village, destroying it.

His third attempt at a super deed was to have the tribe build a giant canoe which needed100 braves to paddle. It worked fine until the river narrowed between two cliffs and the giant canoe broke apart on the rocks.

Superman finally found the Lost Tribe, trapped in a valley because of an earthquake. He smashed a new path to freedom for them.

The Ravensfoot tribe presented the totem pole with Chief Super-Duper to Jimmy, but instead of a token of appreciation, it was to ward off his evil spirit after the calamities that struck the tribe. It was their way of telling Jimmy to leave and don't let the door hit him in the butt on the way out.

Superman swooped up Jimmy at super speed so that it appeared to the tribe that he vanished in a blink. The Man of Steel and a dejected Jimmy returned to the 20th Century. Later, Clark cheered Jimmy up by presenting him with an award for helping bust up a crime ring with Superman. The award showed Superman and Chief Super-Duper.

While I felt bad for Jimmy, this was a character building story. Jimmy naively assumed that because he was more modern than the tribe in the past, he would automatically be their hero, without knowing their culture or way of life. It was like being a city dweller thinking he knew how to live off the land. Jimmy jumped to conclusions with the Black Tomahawk tribe, and created overly complex solutions of the giant tom-toms and 100 brave canoe. I hope that Jimmy learned that just because he lived in modern times, he didn't know everything. I give this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

The Meek Jimmy Olsen was the second, 6 page story in the issue. Jimmy, Clark and Lois walked to work, when they saw a sailboat advertising display blown down the street. Jimmy was about to run to grab it while Clark ran away (to change into Superman, of course), when Lois commented on the difference between the two.

Later, Clark and Jimmy interviewed an eccentric scientist who demonstrated his latest invention, a machine that would switch personality traits between two people.

After Jimmy knocked the scientist's Miniature Disintegrator (?) out the window, Clark climbed out of the window to retrieve it off the top of the sign which hung on the building under the window. He was afraid the sign wouldn't hold Jimmy's weight, so Clark secretly used his flight power to barely float above the sign. Jimmy assumed that the machine worked. As they left the Scientist's lab, Clark decided to use the situation to help protect his secret identity.

Later, Jimmy covered the flight of an experimental aircraft, but the pilot had not appeared yet. Superman was keeping an eye on Jimmy. Since Jimmy also had a pilot's license, Superman crushed a piece of iron and hurled the particles into the back of Jimmy's coat. The Man of Steel then disguised himself with a suit, hat and beard, and held a briefcase with a magnet inside, standing directly behind Jimmy. The iron particles in Jimmy's coat were drawn to the magnet and kept him from stepping forward. Jimmy thought that the personality machine was working on him again.

After Jimmy went to bed, Superman used his x-ray vision to check on Jimmy, and saw that his Pal had jammed a chair under the doorknob.

The next day, Superman saw Jimmy standing next to a water tower at the training facilities of the metropolis Bears. The Man of Steel knew Jimmy was contemplating climbing the water tower to get a peek at a new star athlete the team had signed. Superman chiseled a slab of rock and chiseled a fake Daily Planet headline, Cub Reporter Hurt Climbing Tower. He flew it over Jimmy slow enough for him to see it, but fast enough that it worked as a subliminal message, so that Jimmy thought better of climbing the tower.

Later, Clark and Jimmy covered an exhibition of experimental robots. One of them, which had spinning blades, became out of control and approached the spectators, when Clark ducked under the spinning blades to deactivate the robot.

After that, Clark decided that Jimmy had had enough, and returned to the inventor's lab. The scientist had lost interest in his personality machine and dismantled it. He was working on his next invention, a way to communicate with ants, and was close to a breakthrough. I don't doubt it.

Superman found Jimmy in a marshy area to interview a uranium miner. Jimmy hesitated walking over a narrow wooden pathway. The Man of Steel used his super breath to push Jimmy across the wooden path. Later, after changing into Clark Kent, informed Jimmy that the machine had been dismantled, he was glad to be back to normal.

This seemed to be another pointless story, with Clark needlessly manipulating his friend to protect his secret identity. Crackpot scientists were a common theme in the 1950's Superman TV show. In this story, Jimmy was as naive as Jack Larson portrayed him on the show.

The story had more crazy silver age solutions, like the iron particles in Jimmy's jacket. I would think that either the particles would just leap to the magnet, or else Jimmy would feel the impact of the particles on the back of his jacket, if they were embedded enough to keep him from stepping forward.

I also had to wonder how the rock slab Superman carved into a newspaper headline would keep from breaking, as fast as Superman needed to fly it above Jimmy.

Finally, I didn't understand Clark's thinking. Unless the machine was going to remain in use, how did he think he could use it to protect his secret identity. Once it was dismantled, he was back to square one in protecting his identity. I'm not a big fan of Let's Fool Jimmy stories, and seeing his low self esteem, so I have to give it 1 Superman Cape out of 5.

The third and final story of the issue, The Boy Superman, was 8 pages long.

Clark Kent returned from an assignment on the Daily Planet's Flying Newsroom. As he landed on top of the Daily Planet building, he was met by Lois Lane. The problem was that, on his return trip, he had stopped to extinguish a big fire. As he changed into his Superman uniform, the right sleeve of his shirt and coat were burned, exposing the blue sleeve of his Superman uniform. Before leaving the helicopter, Clark hid his Superman uniform on the Flying Newsroom and planned to retrieve it later.

Perry ordered Jimmy to cover a trial in a nearby city. To get there on time, Jimmy piloted the Flying Newsroom. He was hit by fog during his flight, and a helicopter blade clipped a mountain cliff. Jimmy managed to make a safe landing, but discovered that his signal watch malfunctioned again. (Jimmy really needs to have it fixed. When he searched the Flying Newsroom for some warm clothes, he only found the Superman uniform Clark had hidden aboard.

While the Superman uniform didn't fit, being invulnerable it was well insulated. The cape served as a warm hood to keep his head warm. Jimmy made his way down the mountain, and met a mountain family, who thought he was Superman. To show his super strength, they asked Jimmy to pull out a tree stump. Jimmy was happy to oblige, if only to prove that he wasn't the Man of Steel. By coincidence, a boulder rolled down the hill and dislodged the stump, but the mountain family thought that Super Jimmy had done it himself since they didn't see the boulder.

The family Jimmy first met showed him country hospitality by cooking him a big meal. He took a few minutes to fiddle with his signal watch to see if he could fix it. While he had his back turned, a bear reached through a window and ate everything on the table, then ran off. When the lady of the house returned to the kitchen, she thought Jimmy had polished off the meal already. Just so he would fill his empty stomach with something, Jimmy asked for dessert. That only confirmed to her that his super appetite meant that Jimmy was Superman.

The news quickly spread throughout Hogfoot Hollow, or Holler, as we say down here in the South. The Mayor wanted Super Jimmy to marry his daughter, Petunia. But first, scare off a bear that had been stealing their food. This might have been the same bear that stole Jimmy's meal. Jimmy gladly marched into the bear's cave, if only to prove to everyone that he wasn't really Superman. His plan backfired when the bear rushed out of the cave, and didn't stop running. What only Jimmy knew was that a skunk had scared the bear out of the cave, but there was no convincing everyone that he was Superman.

Moose Morton, Petunia's jilted suitor, and the biggest man in Hogfoot Hollow, challenged Superman. Jimmy was glad to see him. Taking a beating was worth the price of getting out of the wedding.

Just then, Clark appeared in the skies over Hogfoot Hollow, following the flight path of the Flying Newsroom under cover of a fog that covered Metropolis. Just as Moose was about to clobber Jimmy with a thick branch, he saw Clark flying behind everyone else and dropped the wood as he fainted.

Petunia's five brothers got Jimmy dressed in his tuxedo. As Jimmy marched to his doom, I mean the wedding, a revived Moose approached behind Jimmy, ready to clobber his rival with a large rock. Jimmy slipped on a banana peel dropped by a boy eating the fruit. Moose said that his rock must by "Kryktynite". A quick thinking Jimmy pretended that it was a made a mad dash for freedom.

Clark Kent had been able to secretly retrieve his uniform, and as Superman carried Jimmy back to the Flying Newsroom and eventually Metropolis. At the Daily Planet offices, Jimmy warned Clark not to be caught dead in Superman's uniform. As he looked at the reader, with Jimmy behind him, Clark agreed, but for a different reason.

This story was almost a Jimmy Olsen meets The Beverly Hillbillies, or the Darling family from The Andy Griffith Show, two comedies from my childhood in the 1960's. The plot of this Jimmy Olsen story had a number of plot devices common to stories about hillbillies or country people.

Someone mistook someone or something as something it wasn't, which was the plot for about three fourths of the episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. In this case, everyone in Hogfoot Hollow thought Jimmy was Superman, since he was wearing his uniform. Check.

The Mayor or the richest man in the area was eager to get his daughter married off, like Mr. Darling of The Andy Griffith Show. The Mayor of Hogfoot Hollow wanted Jimmy to marry his daughter Petunia. Check.

There's always a country boy who's the biggest man around, like Jethro Bodine of The Beverly Hillbillies, and someone who is jealous about someone else marrying the pretty girl. Moose was the biggest man in Hogfoot Hollow, and he was in love with Petunia. Check and Check.

I did have a few nit picks about this story. First of all, if a helicopter blade clipped something, not one blade would be damaged, but all of them. Also, more than likely, Jimmy would have had a hard crash landing, depending on how high he was, and possibly would have faced serious injury.

It didn't make sense that the family would not have heard or seen the boulder roll down the mountain and uproot the tree stump. That was too close for comfort for Jimmy as well. He could have been planted in the ground just as easily as the stump was uprooted.

I did like how Jimmy's plans to prove he wasn't Superman continued to backfire on him , confirming in the minds of everyone in Hogfoot Hollow that he was Superman.

Finally, of course Jimmy never suspected that Clark Kent was Superman, and was more than willing to keep quiet about finding his uniform aboard the Flying Newsroom. I don't think Lois would have been as cooperative.

This was a fun and humorous story, and I give it 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Action Comics #256, September 1959, was published around July 30, 1959. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye, who were the art team for the Superman story in this issue.

The Superman Of The Future was written by Otto Binder. This 12 page story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

Lois Lane and a group of reporters covered a demonstration of Professor Wright's time travel machine, with Superman serving as a test subject to make sure it was safe for people to use. Prof. Wright set the machine to send the Man of Steel to the year 100,000 A. D. But Superman did not return. Instead, the Future Superman of that year traveled back into the past for 24 hours.

His face was a twin for the 20th Century Superman, but his cranium was enlarged and bald, and his fingers and nails were longer. Dirk Folgar of World News Press asked him if his larger brain meant he possessed greater mental powers than the 20th Century Man of Steel. Ultra Superman, as he was called in a caption, confirmed it by displaying a mental projection of a cityscape from his future era.

Ultra-Superman then warned the reporters of four disasters that would occur in the next 24 hours: the destruction of the Bay Bridge, the sinking of a cargo ship and a domed underwater city set for a movie. He refused to name the fourth one because it was too terrible to mention.

The future Superman left the lab to attempt to prevent the destruction of the Bay Bridge, because that was the first disaster that would occur. Ultra Superman created a giant windmill that spun fast enough to create super suction to dissipate a tornado headed for the bridge. Unfortunately, he happened to plant the windmill on top of a previously unknown fault, which started an earthquake that caused the bridge to collapse.

Ultra Superman responded to the next emergency. A military plane prematurely dropped an atomic bomb, which was falling toward the cargo ship. The future Superman flew to save the cargo ship, but it had dredged up a large piece of kryptonite. He attempted to detonate the bomb safely(?) above the ship by throwing a large boulder at it at super speed. Unfortunately, the air friction disintegrated the rock before it reached its target, so the nuclear bomb detonated, sinking the cargo ship.

The reporters boarded a submarine to view the underwater set of a submerged domed city for a movie. Ultra Superman struggled with a whale to keep it from colliding with the domed city. The turbulence from their battle struck the submarine, knocking Lois lane off balance and into the weapon control board and launching a torpedo which destroyed the underwater set.

A dejected Ultra Superman later revealed that fourth disaster to the reporters: the assassination of the President of the United States. Folgar asked him why he didn't inform the Secret Service.The future Superman didn't think it would help since he hadn't been able to stop any of the previous three disasters.

No one else realized that reporter Folgar was actually a foreign spy, part of a conspiracy to kill the President. He returned to his co-conspirators to finalize their plan. They deployed near the White House to watch the Presidential limousine explode when it drove over one of the booby trapped manhole covers Folgar and his fellow spies had rigged.

Folgar and his gang were surprised when the 20th Century Superman emerged from the wrecked limousine. The Man of Steel had been working with the Secret Service all along. The time travel experiment was a fake, and the fake dome cranium the "future" Superman wore hid a projector that projected the images on the wall. The longer fingers were gloves Superman wore over his hands. He had also made prior arrangements with the Bay Bridge police, the cargo ship crew and the movie company, agreeing to rebuild all three structures. Later, the President thanked Superman in private.

After Folgar and the other spies were arrested, back at the Daily Planet, Lois bragged about her accidentally helping Superman catch the spies when she accidentally launched the sub's torpedo. Clark admonished her to not get a big head, like the Ultra Superman.

I'm not sure that Clark has time to joke around with Lois, since Superman has to rebuild a bridge, ship and underwater domed city.

This was a typical silver age Superman story, taking a problem and finding an overly complicated solution to it. I was surprised at how willing the various authorities were to allow Superman to cause some collateral damage for his goal. As the Bay Bridge police officer responded, "It's for a good cause." Even the U. S. Military was willing to accidentally detonate a nuclear bomb on purpose for the Man of Steel. I'm sure that other nations would be comfortable with this, since Superman was involved. I'm no submarine expert, but I don't think that bumping into the fire control board would be enough to accidentally launch a torpedo. A fictional story about an assassination attempt is a serious matter, especially this close to the anniversary of 9-11.

As a 6 year old boy in the 1960's, I would have thought that this was a good, average Superman story, rating it about a 3. But as an adult, the overly complex scam that Superman was pulling on Folgar and his spies stretched credibility a little too much, so I give this story 2 Superman Capes out of 5.

Congo Bill starred in the second story of the issue, Janu, The Joker Of The Jungle. This 6 page story was drawn by Howard Sherman. In Congorilla's 8th appearance, Janu borrowed Congo Bill's magic ring to transfer his mind into the Golden Gorilla. His purpose was to teach the spoiled child actor starring in a jungle movie, in which Janu was a stunt double, until the actor quit and a very relieved director made Janu the star of the movie.

The Great Supergirl Mirage, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney, was Supergirl's 5th solo story. It was reprinted in Supergirl Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Supergirl vol. I.

It began as Supergirl patrolled the skies above Midvale,flying high enough so that no one on the ground would notice her. Unknown to her, Dick Wilson, another orphan in Midvale Orphanage, thought he saw a bird, and took a picture of it with his camera. As he walked to class at the orphanage, he walked by Linda Lee's room. He saw her unfinished homework assignment on her desk.

Supergirl returned to Midvale Orphanage and changed into her Linda Lee identity. She wrote her homework assignment at super speed, just in time to leave for class.

Dick's curiosity was piqued about Linda Lee when he noticed that she turned in the finished assignment. When he questioned her about it she simply said that she had a finished copy in her desk drawer. Later, she helped Dick develop his film, and recognized the picture he took of Supergirl when he thought he had taken a picture of a bird. Dick began to wonder if Linda was this new Supergirl.

Later, Linda and Dick went on a hike together. Dick went on by himself and threw a dummy of himself, which he had hidden earlier, off of a cliff and called for help.

Linda used her x-ray vision and spotted the falling mannequin. Unknown to her, Dick had coated the dummy with a chemical that ignited when exposed to x-rays. Quick thinking Linda changed into Supergirl and flew into the sky at super speed. She pushed two storm clouds together so that a lightning bolt struck the dummy quick enough to make Dick wonder if the lightning strike had ignited his dummy.

Later, when the Headmaster had arranged for a traveling circus to perform for the orphanage, Dick tricked Linda to lift the real barbell instead of the fake barbell that was part of the clown act. To cover herself, Linda
took a piece of coal from the fire eater's act and squeezed it into a diamond. She spun it fast enough to drill the real barbell hollow. She then inhaled the metal dust, and used her super breath to blow it into the hole of the fake barbell before Dick tried to lift it.

When the circus performance began, Supergirl was the first act. She ended her performance by revealing that she was a robot. Linda Lee would later read a letter from Superman, who had been keeping a watchful eye on her and had seen her predicament. He had built the Supergirl robot that had protected her secret identity.

This was clearly a story meant to give Linda Lee/Supergirl a problem similar to her super powered cousin, a supporting character that suspected her secret identity. I don't know if he will appear in future stories, but we'll find out in future stories. Dick was a very clever young man, to be able to develop a chemical that would ignite when exposed to x-rays. He was also very nosy, to enter a girl's room when Linda's door was blown open.

Another common silver age plot device in this story was overly complex strategies to protect a superhero's secret identity. Supergirl whipped two storm clouds together to create a lightning strike. She also squeezed a lump of coal into a diamond (which should be the final test to be initiated into the superhero union), and spun it fast enough for it to become a drill to hollow the barbell. This was the one part that stretched my credibility too much. Wouldn't the spinning diamond create enough noise for Dick to hear it?

Also, it was a bit too much to believe for Linda to inhale the metal dust created by the drilling diamond, especially several feet away. the same goes for when she used her super breath to exhale and cause the metal dust to fill the fake barbell through a tiny hole. It seems to me that the metal dust could make the fake barbell fall apart, especially when it was made of paper mache.

This was the first appearance of a Supergirl robot, but, as we will see, won't be the last. But we will save that for future stories.

As a 6 year old boy in the 1960's I would have enjoyed this story, but as an adult, parts of this story were too fantastic to be believed, and I give it 2 Superman Capes out of 5.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

World's Finest Comics #83, July/August 1956, was published around May 31, 1956. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of 10¢. The editor was Jack Schiff, and the cover was pencilled by Dick Sprang and inked by Stan Kaye. At the top of the cover was a banner headline advertising a "Gigantic Contest" for about 5,000 prizes by DC Comics. More about this contest later in this episode.

The 12 page Superman/Batman story in this issue was titled The Case Of The Mother Goose Mystery, written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Dick Sprang and inked by Stan Kaye. It was reprinted in World's Finest Comics Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I. According to the Grand Comic Book Database, the cover credit listed in both reprint editions incorrectly listed the cover penciller as Curt Swan, and Dick Sprang personally confirmed that he had pencilled the cover.

Superman, Batman and Robin had just left the Gotham City Annual Police Ball when they saw a man, dressed in a Humpty Dumpty costume, stumbling down the street. When the heroes ran to his aid, he mumbled something about finding Mother Goose and danger before passing out. There happened to be a doctor's office, and they took the injured man to Dr. King.

The heroes waited in the front room while the Dr. took Mr. Humpty Dumpty into the examination room. Superman, Batman and Robin became impatient in the waiting room (after all, it was a doctor's office). After waiting a very long time, they entered the examination room, only to find it empty except for a note. It read, You three have always been considered the world's greatest crime fighters! So this is a challenge, a duel of wits -- your combined intellect against mine! For your first clue, investigate London Bridge!

Batman recalled that the man dressed as Humpty Dumpty warned about Mother Goose, and deduced that their challenger was embarking on crimes involving Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Superman remembered the line from a nursery rhyme about London Bridge falling down, and was about to fly to London to check it out, when Batman informed him that a replica of London Bridge was in Gotham City.

The almost life size replica was in the Exhibit Of Architectural Structures. As soon as Superman, Batman and Robin arrived, the London Bridge model began to collapse. While Superman flew up to save the bridge. Batman swung up on his batrope to save the guard who fell off of the collapsing bridge. The Caped Crusader was surprised to find that the guard was only a man shaped balloon. Superman was also surprised to find that the bridge was only built of balsa wood. They found another note on the costumed balloon, If you don't know the answer yet, try searching Hickory Dickory Dock.

Batman happened to remember that there was a dock built entirely of hickory wood on the Gotham waterfront. When the three heroes arrived there, they say a man who was reaching into his pocket. Fearing the man was reaching for his gun, Batman tackled him before he could pull out a gun. The dazed man introduced himself as Mousey, and instead of a gun, took a note out of his pocket and led the heroes to the top of the nearby clock tower.

Inside the top of the clock tower was none other than Mother Goose herself, with another note pinned to her bonnet. When Superman, Batman and Robin examined Mother Goose, Mousey dropped a cage to trap them, and left the clock tower. Superman broke out of the cage and discovered that the bars were made of paper mache, not iron. And the note on Mother Goose's bonnet read, Still puzzled? Perhaps the Cat and the Fiddle will help. Batman found a trap door in the floor which lead to the street, as if their mystery opponent wanted to provide a means of escape.

Superman began to suspect that the whole case was just a wild goose chase, no pun intended. Batman decided that it was about time to do some investigating. So the three heroes returned to the offices of the fake Doctor. Robin found a cigar with what looked like lipstick on it, and wondered if the Doctor had been a woman in disguise. Batman thought that he might have been an actor wearing makeup.The Caped Crusader also noted that Humpty Dumpty would not have been smoking if he had really been injured, which meant that he and the fake Doctor might be working together.

Meanwhile, Mousey entered the offices of Adventure, Inc., R. Melville, President, as noted by the sign on the door. Melville called Mousey Jones, an actor he had employed. The purpose of Melville's actors and writers was to supply excitement, adventure and the thrill of danger to their clients. Melville's latest clients were the three McKenna Brothers, who wanted to feel like their heroes, Superman, Batman and Robin. Unfortunately, the brothers had their dates mixed up, thinking their date to play their favorite heroes was the next evening.

Melville paid Jones for his night's work, but Jones was dissatisfied with the few measly bucks he earned, and wondered if there was a way to cash in on this setup. He contacted a small time hoodlum named Foots Moley. Jones explained everything about Adventure, Inc., and their latest clients posing as Superman, Batman and Robin. Together, Jones and Moley, with his gang, went to the Cat and the Fiddle Night Club. The building had a giant statue of a cat playing a fiddle on the building, as well as a helium filled cow balloon. It was tethered to a cable, ready to appear to jump over the "moon" installed on the nightclub's roof, simulating the fake Superman carrying it. Moley and his gang robbed the customers, while Superman carried Batman and Robin to the nightclub as well.

Moley and his gang left the nightclub just as the heroes arrived, along with Melville and his staff of writers, who wanted to watch their script performed by their superhero worshiping clients. Melville and his staff were surprised when the heroes totally ad libbed their performance. They were not as surprised as Moley and his gang were when they discovered that they faced the real World's Finest Heroes, who made quick work of the gang.

Batman assumed that Melville and his staff also belonged to Moley's gang, but Melville talked the World's Finest Heroes into returning to his office where he explained everything to the heroes. Melville even had the McKenna Brothers go to his offices to confirm his story. As Melville went over his script with the McKenna Brothers, the World's Finest Heroes left because, as Superman said, This was where we came in.

After first reading this story, I asked myself, "And the point of the story was ...?" and I'm still asking for the most part. This story was filled with misunderstandings for everyone. The McKenna Brothers had the wrong date, Moley and his gang mistook the World's Finest Heroes for the fake actors costumed as their favorite superheroes, and Batman mistook Melville and his staff for members of the Moley gang.

This story might also be an early example of cosplayers shown in comic books.

The written clues, fake props and easy means of escape all pointed to a theatrical production. But early in the story, Superman, Batman and Robin were led on a wild goose chase.

When Melville learns the entire story about Jones' involvement with Moley's gang, I expect Jones to be out of a job, except for doing command performances in jail.

This story wasn't the worse I've read, but I like it less than most Bill Finger written stories. It did have a staple of Finger stories, with oversized props like the cat with the fiddle, Mother Goose and the cow balloon. I'm torn between giving it a high 2 or a low 3, so I'll settle for 3 Superman Capes out of 5.

Green Arrow starred in the 6 page second story of the issue, The Error Car, drawn by George Papp. Professor Weldon presented Green Arrow and Speedy with a new Arrow Car, which was so filled with crime fighting accessories, that GA and Speedy had to fight their own car in order to catch the villains.

After this story, DC placed a full page ad for their slogan contest. Readers who submitted entries could win 5,000 prizes, including a Columbia bike, skates, games and dolls. Entry forms would appear in issues of DC Comics carrying the September 1956 cover date. This contest will be followed in future episodes.

The final story of the issue starred Tomahawk in the 6 page story, The Tribe Without A Chief, drawn by Bob Brown. Tomahawk helped the Chippewa tribe expose a plot by the Mohican tribe to keep the Chippewas from selecting a new tribal chief after the death of Chief Running Bear.

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Superman #131, August 1959, was published on June 18, 1959. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of 10¢. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. All three stories have been reprinted in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. II and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

The Menace Of Mr. Mxyzptlk was the first story of the issue.This 9 page story was written by Jerry Coleman and drawn by Al Plastino.

It began as Superman performed another exhibition for the Metropolis orphanage. He was about to crash into a steel block, smashing it to bits, when it suddenly transformed into a stack of giant children's alphabet blocks. After Superman flew into the stack, the blocks spelled Superman is a Blockhead. This gave the children a big laugh, and Superman correctly guessed that this was the work of none other than Mr. Mxyzptlk. He appeared, and bragged to Superman that he had invented a fool proof way to keep the Man of Steel from making him say his name backwards and be sent back to the 5th Dimension.

Superman flashed back to past encounters. Once, Mr. Mxyzptlk fell in love with Lois, and Superman posed as an astronomer and had written the name he gave a new comet (which Superman had placed in orbit for this purpose) on a piece of paper. When Mr. Mxyzptlk read the name to Lois, which he saw for the first time, the comet's name was Kltpzyxm, his name spelled backwards. This sent him back to his home in the 5th Dimension.

Another time Clark tricked him into reading his name backwards in a bowl of alphabet soup.

Superman was brought back to the present when he saw a crowd surrounding a money tree, thanks to Mr. Mxyzptlk. The Man of Steel spoiled everyone's fun by blowing the leaves of money off of the tree. He then painted a large tube in candy stripe colors. When Mr. Mxyzptlk approached, Superman moved it at super speed so that the 5th Dimension imp thought he was seeing an illusion.

After that, Superman dipped himself in molten iron and made himself into a statue. When Mxy saw it. Superman moved at super speed so that the imp saw double. Mr. Mxyzptlk saw an eye doctor, who was actually Superman in disguise. The letters on top of the eye chart spelled K - L - T - P - Z - Y - X - M. Mxy almost read the letters, but an alarm suddenly rang. It was a bell inside Mxy's derby, which rang whenever he was about to say his own name backwards.

Superman enlisted the help of Lois, who disguised herself as a European actress. Mxy spied them at an upscale restaurant, standing in the rain while he watched them through the window. Later, when Superman introduced him to her as Miss Kltpzyxm, Mxy had lost his voice so he couldn't repeat her name.

A dejected Superman researched old newspapers until he came across a past article about Mxyzptlk. The Man of Steel arranged for a theater to play old newsreels, including one about Mxy's campaign for the office of Mayor of Metropolis. Superman arranged for the projector to play Mxy saying his name backwards, so that the imp was thrown back to the 5th Dimension.

The next day Perry White criticized Clark for spelling Mxyzptlk's name backwards throughout his article.

According to dcindexes.com, this was the first story with the modern spelling of Mr. Mxyzptlk's name. Before this story, his name had been spelled with the p and t flopped, Mxyztplk. Al Plastino drew Mxy in a cartoony style, similar to how he had always been drawn before. The earliest Mxy stories I had read were drawn by Curt Swan, who drew him a little more "realistic"

Despite the title, Mxy was more mischievous than menacing, more prankster than villain. I'm not sure that any of the flashbacks shown ever came from past stories, because the one story where Mxy fell in love with Lois did not end the way described in this story. That was in Mr. Mxyzptlk Takes A Wife, from Superman #51, March/April 1948. And, like in the other flashback, Superman disguised himself in order to trick the Imp into saying his name backwards.

What I liked most about this story was that this was the most novel way I've read for Superman getting Mxy to say his name backwards.This was the problem with a Mxy story, finding a new way to trick him to say his name backwards. I give this story 3 Superman Capes out of 5.

Superman's Future Wife was the second story of the issue. It was 8 pages long and was written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by classic Lois Lane artist Kurt Schaffenberger. It began with Lois covering the historic village of Wicksville for a Daily Planet Sunday feature. The town was famous for the witches which were supposed to have lived there several hundred years ago.

At the Enchanted Cottage, Lois sat in a "witch's chair", which would show the future once every hundred years, and that day was Lois' lucky day.

She saw Superman and his bride having rice thrown at them, and the Man of Steel fly her to their new home in the suburbs. Unfortunately, his bride's face was always blocked to Lois in her vision. When the mists faded, Lois panicked, because she was frantic to know if she married Superman, because she couldn't live without him.

When the mists cleared, Superman and his wife celebrated their anniversary, but her face was still blocked in a variety of ways. The scene would change several other times, showing a twin boy and girl with super powers, who were more of a struggle for Superman than Lex Luthor and Brainiac combined.

The final vision showed Superman dressed as Samson for a costume party. A woman, who I assumed was Mrs. Superman, wore a cape with the initials "L. L." on the back. Lois wondered if they were her initials, but when we finally see the woman's face, she is wearing a mask and the initials stand for Lady Luck.

Back in the present, Superman appeared to fly Lois back to Metropolis because a flood had closed a bridge. A furious Lois slapped him in the face, called him a bigamist, and stormed away. Superman held his hand to his face, wondering what he had done wrong.

This story was like the "imaginary stories" of the silver age of Superman stories, which I usually like. But this story was a little different. First of all, I don't understand Lois' reaction at the end of the story. It was very possible that Lady Luck was Mrs. Superman in her disguise. Wouldn't Lois have recognized her voice, and known if she was Mrs. Superman or not?

Lois did not act like a liberated woman at all in this story, as obsessed with Superman as she was. If the movie Fatal Attraction would have been filmed in the 1950's, Lois would have been perfect for the role of the insanely jealous lover. No wonder Superman had always found an excuse not to marry her.

In one respect, it was funny watching Lois put herself through the emotional ringer over the identity of Mrs. Superman. I don't know who was teased more in this story, Lois or the reader, since we never learn who Mrs. Superman was, even if she was a brunette like Lois. Because of Lois' obsession over Superman's future wife, I have to give this story 2 Superman Capes out of 5.

The final story of the issue was The Unknown Super Deeds. This 8 page story was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Plastino. It was the fourth story to carry the subtitle An Untold Story Of Superman. This one was a story about the young Clark Kent/Superboy in Smallville.

A very bored Clark Kent used his telescopic vision to see several emergencies around the world, but there either were enough emergency responders to handle the situation by the time he could arrive, or else no one was threatened by the disaster.

After Ma Kent left to go shopping, he saw a red haired toddler who had fallen into an abandoned well. After changing to Superboy, he bounced off of a leaning tree on a cliff as a springboard to "make it interesting". On the way to rescue the toddler, he dug a tunnel in a coal mine and spotted fossils which might interest a museum. Superboy found the boy unharmed and asleep at the bottom of the dry well, and returned him to the playpen in the yard he had escaped from.

Later, Superboy saw a man on a ship whose briefcase blew overboard. The Boy of Steel rescued the briefcase from the mouth of a whale and dried the papers inside, which were only a "boring" newspaper report. He put the briefcase on a floating piece of debris and used his super breath to blow it toward the ship. The man was surprised to find his briefcase again. The initials on it were P. W. (Perry White?)

On his way back to Smallville, Superboy heard a scream in another town. It was from some women who had been scared by a mask worn by a teen girl for a party. The teens played a guessing game and removed the masks when their identities were guessed. The girl's mask stuck, so Superboy fashioned a wind instrument that blew a supersonic note which vibrated the mask loose, after discovering the mask was made of lead.

Superboy returned to Smallville and told Ma Kent about the three unimportant deeds he did that day. The reader learned that the red haired toddler was Jimmy Olsen, the man with the briefcase was Perry White and the teen girl was Lois Lane.

For the most part, this was a fun story with some interesting plot twists about the younger selves of some of Superman's supporting cast. But Superboy's attitude after young Jimmy fell into the well was disturbing. There's bored, and then there's self absorbed, but then Superboy is a teenager. He seemed to take the long way around to get to the trapped boy. Luckily he wasn't hurt.

Superboy's solution to young Lois' stuck mask was another example of silver age over thinking. How was Superboy able to know the perfect design of an instrument to emit the perfect frequency to vibrate the mask open.

Despite Superboy's self absorbed attitude, I give this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5, mainly for the twist of the younger versions of Jimmy, Perry and Lois.

Action Comics #255, August 1959, was published on June 30, 1959. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye.

The Bride Of Bizarro was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Plastino. This 12 page story was reprinted in Superman In The Fifties and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

After a brief recap of part one of this story from the previous issue, covered in Episode #192, the story picked up with Lois kissing the handsome Bizarro. His Bizarro like speech tipped Lois off to the fact that he was another Bizarro. The first Bizarro admitted to Lois what he had done, and he got into a fight with the handsome Bizarro.

Then Bizarro #1 flew back to Superman, where Lois was trying to roll the piece of Kryptonite away. Bizarro kicked it away, and it was pulverized to dust when it hit a far away rock on the island. Bizarro had decided he needed Superman's help against the handsome Bizarro. Superman found the second Bizzaro, who happened to fly under the cloud of kryptonite dust and dissolve to dust.

Superman returned Lois to Metropolis before Bizarro #1 returned. He was still obsessed about Lois, a common trait among Superman's supporting cast. Bizarro brought a flower from Pluto to Lois' apartment, but it began ejecting seed pods, which began destroying her apartment. She made Bizarro leave. Luckily for her, Superman appeared and saved her from the alien plant.

Later, Bizarro kidnapped Lois and returned to the island, then challenged Superman to a fight. Lois realized that the fight would end in a stalemate, and thought of a way to end the fight using the duplication ray.

Superman and Bizarro saw Lois wave a flag from shore. The Man of Steel thought Lois was running into Bizarro's arms, until he saw that she was actually a Bizarro Lois. The real Lois explained to Superman that she used the duplication machine to create an imperfect duplicate of herself.

Bizarro Superman and Bizarro Lois flew to a faraway planet to begin a new life and make a lot of smaller Bizarros.

As Superman flew Lois back to Metropolis, she wondered if she would ever be as luck as her imperfect duplicate. Superman only relied, someday.

I noticed how possessive Superman was with Lois when he thought she was throwing herself at Bizarro.I had to wonder if he expected her to wait forever until he made up his mind.

I did enjoy the two epic battles this story had, first between the two Bizarros, then between Bizarro #1 and Superman. Bizarro Superman was also Bizarro stalker where Lois was concerned.

Usually, Superman out thought his nemesis, but this time it was Lois who solved the dilemma. Maybe Superman wasn't thinking straight where Lois was concerned. I give this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

Congo Bill starred in his 7th appearance as Congorilla, in The Abominable Snowman, written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Howard Sherman.

Supergirl Visits The 21st Century was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney.

Superman sent Supergirl a secret message to expand her super powers by taking a short trip through the time barrier. She arrived in the 21st Century.

She saw a meteor heading to a domed city on an asteroid. It turned out to be an ancient probe from the 20th Century, which she had read about at the beginning of the story. The probe punched a hole in the dome, which she sealed. Before she could stop the probe from crashing into an orphanage, one of the orphans, named Tommy, used an anti-grav gun to repel it.

Supergirl spent most of the story following the boy, who was equipped with a number of tools which he used to get him and his Martian friend out of several jams. She later learned that the boy would be adopted, and flew to check out his new parents. Supergirl did save his new parents from a dangerous asteroid field, before returning to the 20th Century to write her experiences in her Kryptonese diary.

We later learned that Tommy was none other than Tommy Tomorrow, whose stories appeared in World's Finest Comics.

My first thought was how disappointed I was that we don't really have domed cities built on asteroids yet, but the 21st Century is still young. Tommy was a resourceful boy who was able to get himself out of jams he got into. His Martian friend reminded me of Chameleon Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The action and dangers were typical of the outlandish silver age, but were still fun. It may have been a teaser story for Tommy Tomorrow, but he was so resourceful, like a boy scout, I enjoyed reading it, so I give it 3 Superman Capes out of 5.

The first episode of SUPERGIRL'S COSMIC ADVENTURES is now scheduled to be posted around September 5, 2011, at http://supergirlpodcast.blogspot.com/ . You can subscribe to it on iTunes, and follow the podcast on twitter @sgirlpodcast.

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.